Ground Game Led By Passers

As offensive coordinator Gregg Brandon mentioned in the preseason, one of the primary ingredients he prefers to incorporate to make his spread offense go is a mobile quarterback.

Vic Hall and Jameel Sewell displayed that Saturday in U.Va.'s 26-14 loss to William and Mary. Sewell had a team-high 13 carries for 40 yards and a touchdown, and Hall added eight carries for 54 yards and a touchdown. Their rushes represented the bulk of U.Va.'s 39 carries, which isn't exactly what coach Al Groh is looking for down the road, but he wasn't displeased with what he saw.

"They are two of the better runners on the team," Groh said. "Clearly, they had two excellent runs for touchdowns. So, in terms of allowing the playmakers to make plays, to inhibit them from doing such would be taking the ball out of their hands in a way the defense would have difficulty doing so. Some of those runs came on scrambles that you add to the total, but I would say it's unlikely that we will see a number that high in the future."

On U.Va.'s second scoring drive, Hall and Sewell combined for 42 yards rushing, including 39 from Sewell. After that drive, neither quarterback would run for more than 15 yards during any single drive.

While Hall and Sewell looked solid running with the ball, the rest of U.Va.'s running game was abysmal. Running back Mikell Simpson had five carries for 32 yards, while Torrey Mack and freshman Dominique Wallace contributed 7 yards each on three and two carries, respectively.

U.Va.'s backfield got a little thinner last week with the departure of third-string running back Keith Payne, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound junior. Payne wasn't pleased with his role on the team, according to Groh.

STORYLINES

MOUNTAIN WEST WOES

Though U.Va. (0-1) will be playing Mountain West Conference foe Texas Christian on Saturday for the first time, U.Va.'s recent results against MWC teams have been mixed. The Cavaliers are 2-3 against MWC foes, splitting home-and- home games against Brigham Young and Wyoming, and losing to Colorado State in the 2002 opener. TCU, which will be playing its first game this weekend, is ranked No. 16.

GREER STEPS UP

For a guy playing in his first college game, redshirt freshman linebacker Steve Greer looked comfortable against W&M, logging a team-high 10 tackles. He became the first U.Va. freshman to have 10 tackles since Antonio Appleby in 2005.

FOLLOW THE TREND

In the last 21 years, U.Va. has lost its season-opener 11 times. It came back to win its second game in all but one of those seasons. The Cavaliers, however, are 12-17 against ranked opponents under Groh.

BIG NUMBER

94

U.Va.'s rank in total offense, which is the lowest in the nation for any Football Bowl Subdivision team that opened its schedule against a Football Championship Subdivision program.